The mother of jailed U.S. missionary Kenneth Bae, who is serving a 15-year sentence for state subversion in North Korea, has seen her ailing son and he appeared to be in better health, she said on Friday in Pyongyang.

Myunghee Bae told Japan's Kyodo news agency she had met her son in a hospital and he was still far from healthy. She said she would remain in Pyongyang for a few days.

"I saw him at the hospital," Bae said in TV footage taken by Kyodo in Pyongyang. "His condition seems to be all right, not good, but seems much better."...